Pouring rain the whole time, but had my Kamleika on so stayed warm at least (got drenched before I even put it on). Really enjoyable run though; quiet roads, mist, explored some new areas including a nice bike path along the canal to Watermead, a big park with lots of lakes. Misjudged the turnaround so a bit shorter than planned, but I got some good work in either way.

Monday 18/08/14

A) Press30/535/338/343/349/938/15

B) Deadlift70/395/3108/3122/10

C) ChinsBW/5x3

E) PUP Plank2 mins

Tuesday 12/08/14Bradgate Park6.5km / 170m

Legs a bit tired at first, then went over on my ankle so had to walk that off and running was a bit tentative after that. Stuck to the lower level paths before heading up to Old John at the end. Really love that last descent - about 1.5km, multiple route choices, comfortable gradient.

Wednesday 13/08/14

A) Back squat60/576/386/397/1076/20

B) ChinsBW/8x3

C) Fat grip curlsx20x3

Band pushdownsRed/50x2

“Begin at the beginning,” the King said gravely, “and go on till you come to the end. Then stop.”

Just taken delivery of some NB1210 Leadvilles which I got cheap and will probably be my shoe of choice for Transvulcania next year, and maybe the 3x3000 in October if they perform well on the recce next weekend.

“Begin at the beginning,” the King said gravely, “and go on till you come to the end. Then stop.”

Basically a test run for my new Leadvilles, so picking as many different types of terrain as possible. First impressions are that they are pretty damn good and will probably be awesome on a really long day. Going out again tonight for a second test, but it's looking likely that I'll wear them next weekend when we do our 56km / 2800m recce of most of the 3x3 Ultra route (i.e. skipping the first and last summits because we already know most of those 2 sections).

Lots of deer out this morning.

“Begin at the beginning,” the King said gravely, “and go on till you come to the end. Then stop.”

Evening run to test the Leadvilles again. Mostly by headlamp so not quick but a good opportunity to test confidence in some new shoes.

Saturday 23/08/14Home -Bradgate - Reservoir[15.3km / 200m

Legs a bit sore but a decent run.

Sunday 24/08/14Surrounding villages35.5km / 522m

Surprisingly good figure of 8 though the surrounding villages, just deciding where to go next when I met a junction and not thinking of any particular distance. Ended up running quite a lot of it along the canal and lake shores. Legs feel pretty good considering the 67km weekend.

“Begin at the beginning,” the King said gravely, “and go on till you come to the end. Then stop.”

Quick 6 day taper involving one quick run up and down Old John in the dark, and nothing else.

Saturday 30/08/143x3 Ultra recce60.5km / 3019m

Long day out in the hill checking out most of the 3x3 course before race day. Up at 5am, out the door by 6, in Keswick at 8, change shoes, sort out gear, then a leisurely walk to the lake to be on the way for 9. We had a few aims for the day: obviously there's the training benefits of a long day in the hills, but we also wanted to make sure we had the navigation sorted at a few key points, to test out full race kit over a substantial time period, and also to see what the terrain was like in those areas we hadn't visited before.

Leg 1: Keswick to SeathwaiteAn easy start to the route, beginning with some nice lakeshore forest trails followed by a short minor road section up to Ashness Bridge before picking up the trail to Watendlath. We took this section very easy, and walked the short uphill road section (no point rushing at this stage). The trail to Watendlath is a nice runnable track along the edge of the valley with trees to the right and a beck to the left. Upon reaching the tarn and tiny hamlet of Watendlath we pulled out the poles for the first proper climb of the day. Once at the top of the climb it was a really nice runnable descent through ferns towards Rosthwaite (we made a brief navigational error here, but only by a few hundred metres and we knew exactly where we went wrong so no big deal). Another short road section through the village (good to note some public toilets here, although I suspect they will be locked up when we arrive on race day given the 5am start), before picking up the track behind Longthwaite YHA and then the non-descript track to Seathwaite (more toilets here, but again will probably be locked on race day). We'll probably be running most (if not all) of this leg in the dark on race day, so it was good to get a feel for it.

Leg 2: Seathwaite to Esk HauseMy favourite leg of the route, in part because it ends at my favourite place in the entire Lakes, but also because it's a long, winding climb on rocky but not too technical ground, surrounded by some of the most rugged peaks in England. Along Grains Gill to Stockley bridge before crossing over and starting the long climb to Styhead. Our approach for the day was to hike any climbs and jog the downs and flats, and it was here we really began to notice how much easier the climbs were with poles even if we pushed hard. Definitely going to be a big leg saver on race day, and for Transvulcania next year. A couple of short stops on the way up to attend to some chafing issues (don't forget to apply anti-chafing cream and then go on a 60km outing in shorts you bought a few hours ago) and to restock our water supplies (the collapsible cup I picked up proving very handy). From Styhead the trail branches off in several directions (on to Scafell Pike, up Great Gable, up the nasty rubble filled gully of Aaron Slack that we climbed last October), and on towards Sprinkling Tarn. The latter was to be our choice, with a brief stop to make sure we knew where the turnoff for the Corridor Route to Scafell Pike was as this would be where we'd turn off on race day.

One of the few photos I took: Looking back down to Styhead from just below Sprinkling Tarn

From Sprinkling Tarn it's a fantastic winding and undulating rocky trail round the imposing bulk of Great End before finally reaching Esk Hause where numerous paths from the surrounding peaks all diverge. It was pretty cold up here as the wind was blowing at around 35-40mph, but I was still OK in a base layer vest, T shirt and windproof.

Leg 3: Esk Hause to WythburnFrom Esk Hause the route descends down to Angle Tarn (pretty steep and rocky, and probably a menace in the wet) before crossing some wet and boggy ground on the way to Stake Pass. If the cloud comes down on race day this section will be tricky as the path is not well defined and the terrain largely featureless. At Stake Pass we stopped to try and work out our route to High Raise, as the map clearly didn't match what was on the ground, but we located the path a few hundred metres north of where it was on the map. There then followed a stiff climb up the west flank of High Raise (poles much appreciated), punctuated by another water stop, before topping out on the broad and featureless summit plateau. The last time I was up here it was in thick fog and we wandered round in circles for about 45 minutes trying to get off the summit before finally emerging from the fog a hundred metres or so from Sergeant Man. This time it was clear but very cold and windy, so we hunkered down in the summit shelter for a few minutes to eat before heading into the unknown down to Wythburn.

On the map the descent to Wythburn looks like a nice, pleasant runnable descent apart from the one area ominously labelled "The Bog", and with a clear path almost throughout. In reality it's a 5km long slippery quagmire of marshland and bogs with no path to be seen whatsoever. So a very slow descent in part also due to the endless stopping and trying to locate the path that appeared so clearly on the map (turns out we were pretty much on it the whole time, and bang on the race route). On race day, with this knowledge in hand, we should be a lot quicker through here. Eventually the swampfest petered out and we had a km or so of decent running down to the road at Wythburn.

Leg 4: Wythburn to KeswickUpon reaching Wythburn we were both feeling pretty good, although conscious of the time taken so far and starting to reassess our projected finish time for the day. From here was the last big ascent of the day, the climb up to Helvellyn with a beastly 740m to gain in the space of 3.8km (on race day we will still have the big final climb up Skiddaw to do with 60km in our legs). Another water stop on the way up the pretty relentless climb, but it's good underfoot and at least you can see the summit even if it does seem to never get any closer. By the time we hit the top it was 6pm and we still had just under 20km to cover, so it was clear we'd be finishing in the dark. After a short stop to take in food, a couple of gels and some caffeine, and chat to a couple of guys who were also checking out the course, we headed off on the final stretch.

The wind had really picked up by now, making it very cold but surprisingly it didn't affect movement at all. From Helvellyn it was some really fantastic running on broad rocky tracks along a long, rolling grassy ridge, hitting 8 summits along the way before dropping down the nasty and steep north face of Clough Head (45% gradient, no path...). At the bottom of Clough Head we stopped to assess our route for the final section and to get out our headlamps and we had about 10 mins of twilight left before it was completely dark. The start of this final section took way longer than it should thanks to taking a lower route than we should have done and having to climb fences to get back on track. Eventually we located the old railway line through the woods for a nice flat 8km final stretch through old tunnels and over lots of bridges before finally returning to Keswick. 14 hours since we left the car, 60km and 3000m in our legs, but surprisingly not ruined.

Route profile of the day

Route profile of the entire course. Ouch.

So a very successful outing. Kit choice worked out perfectly, route successfully navigated (after comparing our route to the official route we actually made all the correct choices), legs not completely ruined afterwards (hardly any soreness in the following days and I'd have been training again on Monday were it not for feeling like I was going to barf all day and crapping my guts out). We also decided on a possible training day prior to Transvulcania next year, involving repeats of the climb from Wythburn to Helvellyn which would get us 4400m ascent in the space of 45km. Gnarly.

“Begin at the beginning,” the King said gravely, “and go on till you come to the end. Then stop.”

Last proper long run before tapering. Important not to run it too hard and trash my legs/CNS so decided to do a strict 10:1 run/walk. Took a different route on the way out and then the usual route back. Nice day, and good to explore some more of the local area.

Monday 15/09/14

A) Press30/538/344/354/6: misload!49/6: what it should have been, but already taken the edge off38/12

B) Deadlift75/596/3110/3124/10

C) Abs

Tuesday 16/09/14Work - Home7.8km / 124m

Wednesday 17/09/14

Back squat60/370/377/389/3100/5

Thursday 18/09/14Bradgate7.7km / 249m

Pre-work run just after sunrise. Foggy start to the day, lovely and quiet, just me and the deer. Legs feeling good.

Sunday 21/09/14Old John long repeats20.4km / 910m

Simple session - there's a 100m climb over 1km that finishes on top of Old John: hike up hard with poles, run down, repeat. Some decent ascent for such a flat area - you just have to find the right hill.

“Begin at the beginning,” the King said gravely, “and go on till you come to the end. Then stop.”

Haven't updated in nearly 2 months and still only halfway down the page...

Still training, just haven't found the time to log stuff. A summary of the last month or so:

- DNFed the 3x3000. Horrendous weather conditions, fell in a river that wasn't supposed to be there, waded through lots of knee to waist deep water, almost got stuck in a chest deep bog, hands so cold at one point I could barely keep hold of my poles, fell more times than I can remember including a proper head over heels tumble down a hillside that left me having to climb back up to retrieve my poles. Miraculously uninjured and physically OK, but called it a day at 52km as my head wasn't in it anymore and I wasn't in the mood for a 10pm finish. Still in two minds about that decision, but what's done is done.- Took a week off then immediately started training again for my second shot at Transvulcania. Long term aim is to get my weekly mileage up to around the 120km mark, but short term I'm just concentrating on running more often with the aim of running 8 times over 6 days. I'm also doing more road work at the moment (I'm only hitting the trails once or twice a week at present, plus a few trips up and down Old John in the middle of my Sunday long run). Trying to get in as many hills as possible on the roads, especially some long downhills.- Signed up for a couple more races as training runs: last week I signed up for the Frostbite 30, which is on December 6th and pretty much 50km over very runnable terrain unless the ice sets in again, and I've also signed up for the Rombald Stride which is about 40km and a bit hillier. I might also do the Charnwood Marathon which is a trail race over a lot of the ground I normally train on, so it'll be a good way to get a long run in without having to think about food/fluids too much.

Week 01/12/14 - 07/12/14 - 1 week "taper"Wed - 5.1km / 72m, easySat - Frostbite 30. 54.9km / 1617m, 7:13. Good race on a tough but enjoyable course. Ran with Dan pretty much the whole way bar a short section of single track where we got split up, treating it as a social training run and not worrying about time. New course this year (so it's no longer 30 miles), so you start off with a hilly 16km loop back to the first aid station, then a 6km section that starts flat along the river then starts to climb before hitting the start of the second loop and a long climb to the the second aid station at 33km (remote, cold and windy up here), then the final 21 ish kms back to the start. Great course, lots of runnable terrain but some good climbs too. Sunny for the first half, cold and foggy for the second, and a nice finish in the dark to top it off. Best I've ever felt after that sort of distance, back running again on Tuesday.

“Begin at the beginning,” the King said gravely, “and go on till you come to the end. Then stop.”

Quick update (training a lot at the moment so I'm not really getting the time to keep this up to date):

Training is going very well at the moment. For the last couple of months I've been running consistent mileage around the 75km/week mark, 5-6 runs a week and long runs around the HM distance, no speedwork apart from a fast finish run on Tuesday (last 10-15 mins at tempo effort). I finally got a GPS watch for Xmas and I've started training by heart rate when I'm on the road, which is most of the time. I've been using the principles set out in Matt Fitzgerald's 80/20 and so far it's been going really well. I'm getting faster and running longer and easier than before, and I'm enjoying my training despite the bigger training load (my doing, not the book's). I've just finished my base phase and starting to ramp things up for Transvulcania. I'm now running 8 times a week, plus 2 lifting sessions, 3 EMS strength sessions, and EMS recovery sessions as often as I can fit in. Bodyweight is down to 73-74kg, but thankfully the EMS and lifting has meant my legs are only a couple of inches smaller than they were when I weighed 88kg and was weightlifting. Much leaner though, and much better at running up and down hills. Big EMS fan.

January was my biggest ever training month at 356km, and so far this year I've ran 2km less than what I ran in May-December 2012, the year I started running. Not bad, I guess.

EMS recovery session tonight then 32km tomorrow to finish off another 100km week, then a mini-taper before the Rombald Stride next Saturday (35km/800m), which should be an enjoyable morning on the trails.

“Begin at the beginning,” the King said gravely, “and go on till you come to the end. Then stop.”